Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump shake hands during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. Alexey Nikolsky, Sputnik Pool via EPA-EFE

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin wait for a working lunch meeting at Finland's Presidential Palace on July 16, 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images

An individual, seated with the American press corps in Helsinki, holds a sign about nuclear weapons, prior to the beginning of a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, was headed to the White House on Tuesday afternoon, a day after President Donald Trump indicated he might be inclined to take Russia's side on whether or not that country interfered in the 2016 election, despite the U.S. intelligence community's agreement that it did so.

Whether Bishop would bring up Russia with the president, however, wasn't known: The White House said the meeting with Trump was regarding tax reform, not Russian interference.

The meeting was set for 2 p.m. Bishop and six other Republican members of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee were expected to take part, including Chairman Kevin Brady.

A request to Bishop's office for comment on the meeting and whether he planned to bring up the president's remarks on Russia on Monday wasn't immediately returned.

On Tuesday, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Howell, whom Bishop replaced in 2014, put out a strongly worded statement calling Trump's remarks "nothing short of shocking."

"To ignore the conclusions of our entire intelligence community and simply accept the word of a former KGB officer is a betrayal of our brave intelligence professionals," Rogers said. "To embrace Vladimir Putin as openly as the president did, and in the face of clear Russian provocations, is to fundamentally cede our global leadership to the very person that wants to see America fail," Rogers added.

Rogers, who stepped down voluntarily, had been chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and is a former FBI agent.